constitute a state easy and happy, or at the worst tolerable: I say, it seems to me, that the Author of Nature has thought fit to mingle from time to time, among the societies of men, a few, and but a few, of those on whom he is graciously pleased to bestow a larger proportion of the etherial spirit than is given in the ordinary course of his providence to the sons of men.

Bolingbroke on the Spirit of Patriotism, Let. I. To crowd in a single member of a period different subjects, is still worse than to crowd them into one period:

-Trojam genitore Adamasto

Paupere (mansissetque utinam fortuna) profectus.

Eneid, iii. 614.

From conjunctions and disjunctions in general, we proceed to comparisons, which make one species of them, beginning with similies. And here, also, the intimate connexion that words have with their meaning, requires that in describing two resembling objects, a resemblance in the two members of the period ought to be studied. To illus trate the rule in this case, I shall give various examples of deviations from it; beginning with resemblances expressed in words that have no resemblance,

I have observed of late, the style of some great ministers very much to exceed that of any other productions.

Letter to the Lord High Treasurer.

Swift.

This, instead of studying the resemblance of words in a period that expresses a comparison, is going out of one's road to avoid it. Instead of productions, which resemble not ministers great nor small, the proper word is writers or authors.

If men of eminence are exposed to censure on the one hand, they are as much liable to flattery on the other. If they receive reproaches which are not due to them, they likewise receive praises which they do not deserve. spectator.

Here the subject plainly demands uniformity in expression instead of variety; and therefore it is sub

mitted, whether the period would not do better in the following manner :

If men of eminence be exposed to censure on the one hand, they are as much exposed to flattery on the other. If they receive reproaches that are not due, they likewise receive praises that are not due.

I cannot but fancy, however, that this imitation, which passes so currently with other judgments, must at some time or other have stuck a little with your Lordship.* [Better thus:] I canhot but fancy, however, that this imitation, which passes so currently with others, must at some time or other have stuck a little with your Lordship.

A glutton or mere sensualist is as ridiculous as the other two characters. Shaftesbury, Vol. i. p. 129. They wisely prefer the generous efforts of good-will and affection to the reluctant compliances of such as obey by force.

Remarks on the History of England, letter, V. Bolingbroke.

Titus Livius, mentioning a demand made by the people of Enna of the keys from the Roman governor, makes him say,

Quas simul tradiderimus, Carthaginiensium extemplo Enna erit, fœdiusque hic trucidabimur, quam Murgantiæ præsidium interfecL. xxiv. sect. 38.

tum est.

Quintus Curtius, speaking of Porus mounted on an elephant, and leading his army to battle :

Magnitudini Pori adjicere videbatur bellua qu vehebatur, tantum inter cæteras eminens, quanto aliis ipse præstabat. L. viii. cap. 14.

It is still a greater deviation from congruity, to affect not only variety in the words, but also in the construction. Describing Thermopylæ, Titus Livius says,

Id jugum sicut Apennini dorso Italia dividitur, ita mediam Græciam diremit. L. xxxvi. sect. 15.

Speaking of Shakspeare:

*Letters concerning Enthusiam. Shaftesbury.

There may remain a suspicion that we over-rate the greatness of his genius, in the same manner as bodies appear more gigantic on account of their being disproportioned and misshapen. History of G. Britain, Vol. 1. p. 138.

This is studying variety in a period where the beauty lies in uniformity. Better thus:

There may remain a suspicion that we over-rate the greatness of his genius, in the same manner as we over-rate the great ness of bodies that are disproportioned and mis-shapen.

Next as to the length of the members that signify the resembling objects. To produce a resemblance between such members, they ought not only to be constructed in the same manner, but as nearly as possible be equal in length. be equal in length. By neglecting this circumstance, the following example is defec

tive in neatness:

As the performance of all other religious duties will not avail in the sight of God, without charity; so neither will the discharge of all other ministerial duties avail in the sight of men, without a faithful discharge of this principal duty.

Dissertation upon parties, Dedication. In the following passage are accumulated all the errors that a period expressing a resemblance can well admit.

Ministers are answerable for every thing done to the prejudice of the constitution, in the same proportion as the preservation of the constitution in its purity and vigour, or the perverting and weakening it, are of greater consequence to the nation, than any other instances of good or bad government.

Dissertation upon parties, Dedication.

Next of a comparison where things are opposed to each other. And here it must be obvious, that if resemblance ought to be studied in the words which express two resembling objects, there is equal reason for studying opposition in the words which express contrasted objects. This rule will be best illustrated by examples of deviations from

it:

A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy inflames his crimes. Spectator, No. 399.

Here the opposition in the thought is neglected in the words, which at first view seem to import, that the friend and the enemy are employed in different matters, without any relation to each other, whether of resemblance or of opposition. And therefore the contrast or opposition will be better marked by expressing the thought as follows:

A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy his crimes.

The following are examples of the same kind.

The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool when he recommends himself to the applause of those about him. Ibid. No. 73.

Better:

The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool when he gains that of others.

Sicut in frugibus pecudibusque, non tantum semina ad servandum indolem valeut, quantum terræ proprietas cœlique, sub quo aluntur, mutat. Livy, lib. xxxviii, sect. 17.

We proceed to a rule of a different kind. During the course of a period, the scene ought to be continued without variation: the changing from person to person, from subject to subject, or from person to subject, within the bounds of a single period, distracts the mind, and affords no time for a solid impression. I illustrate this rule by giving examples of deviations from it.

Honos alit artes omnesque incenduntur ad studia gloria ; jacentque ea semper quæ apud quosque improbantur.

Cicero, Tuscul. quæst. l. i.

Speaking of the distemper contracted by Alexander bathing in the river Cydnus, and of the cure offered by Philip the physician:

Inter hac a Parmenione fidissimo purpuratorum, literas accipit, quibus ei denunciabat, ne salutem suam Philippo committeret. Quintus Curtius, l. iii. cap. 6

Hook, in his Roman history, speaking of Eumenes, who had been beat to the ground with a stone,

says,

After a short time he came to himself; and the next day, they put him on board his ship, which conveyed him first to Corinth, and thence to the island of Ægina.

I give another example of a period which is unpleasant, even by a very slight deviation from the rule:

That sort of instruction which is acquired by inculcating an im. portant moral truth, &c.

This expression includes two persons, one acquiring and one inculcating; and the scene is changed without necessity. To avoid this blemish, the thought may be expressed thus;

That sort of instruction which is afforded by inculcating, &c. The bad effect of such change of person is remarkable in the following passage..

The Britons, daily harrassed by cruel inroads from the Picts, were forced to call in the Saxons for their defence, who, consequently roduced the greatest part of the island to their own power, drove the Britons into the most remote and mountainous parts, and the rest of the country, in customs, religion, and language, became wholly Saxons.

Letter to the Lord High Treasurer. Swift. The following passage has a change from subject to person.

This prostitution of praise is not only a deceit upon the gross of mankind, who take their notion of characters from the learned; but also the better sort must by this means lose some part at least of that desire of fame which is the incentive to generous actions, when they find it promiscuously bestowed on the meritorious and undeserving. Guardian, No. 4.